Lake Alma trail map available

Monday

Jul 3, 2017 at 10:53 AMJul 3, 2017 at 10:55 AM

TANIAH TUDOR, Press Argus-Courier Staff

A map of the Lake Alma hiking trail is now available at area visitor centers.

A detailed map of the Lake Alma Trail and flying disc golf course at Lake Alma Park are now available in a brochure that’s being distributed to Arkansas Tourism Welcome Centers and area visitor centers.

Jim Warnock, a hiking enthusiast and principal at Alma Intermediate School, worked to get the map designed and printed for distribution to attract new people to Alma, he said.

“It is amazing that we have this beauty within the city limits and this is a potential draw of tourists,” Warnock said. “Having a professional color brochure and map will entice first time visitors to Alma as well as encourage area residents to explore the trails, disc golf course, water park and other amenities at Lake Alma.”

Professional cartographer Kristian Underwood was hired to do the mapping and brochure design of the recreational complex located north of Interstate 40 using $2,000 from a General Improvement Fund grant.

Underwood is known for his maps of more than 180 miles of the Ozark Highlands Trail and has done map work for organizations in Northwest Arkansas, Warnock said.

After presenting the project to the Alma Advertising and Promotion Commission, Warnock secured $700 to pay for color printing of 5,000 brochures. The brochure also can be distributed as a digital file at no extra cost.

Lake Alma Trail was cleared for use after Harry McWater, and avid walker, began organizing volunteer cleanups of the trail in March 2013.

Vegetation and wildlife can be spotted on the 3.6-mile trail, along with interesting rock formations, small creeks and McWater Falls.

Lake Alma is visible almost the entire length of the trail, and historical sites including an old homestead also can be explored.

Volunteers who did clean up on the trails were trained by members of the Arkansas Master Naturalists on how to clear the trail for hikers, but keep it “as natural as possible,” McWater said in a previous interview.

Since it was completed in 2012, the trail has been featured on AETN’s Exploring Arkansas, in the news, lifestyle magazines and hiking guides. Volunteers, including Warnock and McWater, continue the trail’s upkeep.

One of Warnock’s photos of Lake Alma was included in the brochure, he said.

A printable file of the map can be found at Warnock’s hiking blog OzarkMountainHiker.com. A link to the map will eventually be posted on the City of Alma website, Warnock said.

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